If This is Just the Beginning
by The Forgotten Traveller
Summary: It was only a smile, a tiny and shy and small one at that, along with a pair of breathtaking hazel eyes he could stare into forever, but that was enough to capture him, render him senseless. In other words, he had the most beautiful smile Antonio had ever seen. Birthday gift for Italian Skunk.


That night, Antonio dreamed of the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

It was only a smile, a tiny and shy and small one at that, along with a pair of breathtaking hazel eyes he could stare into forever, but that was enough to capture him, render him senseless.

That smile was all he saw from the moment he woke up from the dream he never wanted to end, until the minute he could do it all over again.

Those eyes consumed every waking moment, dragging him into a hole he wasn't sure he wanted to really get out of.

It made no sense, how easily Antonio was drawn in. He had never been this enthralled with anything he could remember before. If he was thinking sensibly, he supposed, there would be something to worry about.

And that was how he lived his life. Through longing and sighing and _searching_ for the cure to what ailed him.

Somehow, he kept his job as a waiter and (most of) his friends. He surrounded himself with acquaintances he didn't want to know better to distract himself from the hole burning in his heart, in his soul.

It didn't work. He was slowly being consumed by that smile, and he feared if he didn't find it soon, he would die. So, he sat down one night and gathered all the funds he had. There was enough for his plan, barely, but it would have to do.

He gave his two week's notice at his job, and said goodbye to his coworkers. ("But not forever!" He would say cheerily, the bags under his eyes too noticeable for his own good.) He made sure all his friends' numbers were in his phone and that they were up-to-date.

And then it was time. Bags packed, Antonio left his hometown to find whoever had that smile, and whoever had those eyes. What he would do when he found them, he had no idea. But that didn't matter. The only things he cared about anymore were in his dreams, and that was enough for him.

* * *

City after city he went to, his search now desperate. Every other passerby was an obstacle to his goal, every glance sent his way was keeping him from finishing.

Until they weren't.

Until a grey afternoon in March, when Antonio was hurrying down the Main Street of a small town in northern Maine, glancing at the faces of those around him for a split second before moving to the next, and he almost knocked someone over. He did that a lot, getting so far lost in his task he couldn't focus on darting out of the path of other people who were on their own journey.

Antonio stumbled away from the offending person, instinctively mumbling a partially heartfelt apology, which the pedestrian accepted with a nod and kept going. Antonio stood still for a moment, regaining his senses, and happened to look up from the ground.

He saw the short, old buildings lining the street, the rain clouds rolling in from far away, the cars parked along the sidewalk, and the young man in a coat and and hat and scarf sitting on the bench in front of a flower shop, an obviously annoyed expression on his face, in his eyes and _oh, oh, his eyes-!_

Antonio could see them almost clearly from his vantage point across the street and up a few yards, and they were more beautiful than he could have ever, ever imagined. The brown was pretty enough, so that he would gladly take note of every shade for the rest of his days. However, he could tell there was green, and _was that gold?_ and they could have been kaleidoscopes for all he cared.

He frowned, confused. His vision was good enough so that he didn't need glasses, but he shouldn't have been able to see the man that clearly unless he was looking back at Antonio, and he- wasn't? But...oh, but he was.

The man with the eyes of his dreams was staring straight at Antonio now, confused as well, or at least looking the part. His arms were crossed, and one eyebrow was arched in a demand: _"What do you think you're doing?"_

Antonio had the decency to feel his face heating up in a blush, but he couldn't tear his gaze away. He only blinked rapidly, his own eyes dry.

Their little staring contest went on for another minute, the young man - who was a brunet, most likely, from the unruly hair Antonio could see peeking out from his hat - slowly becoming more and more amused, by the twitching corners of his mouth.

Eventually, the man rolled his awe striking eyes and started to get up. (Antonio hoped it was to go towards himself.) Instead of walking across the street, he walked inside the flower shop with one glance back at Antonio.

Grinning, Antonio hurriedly made his way down the crosswalk and into the shop - whose name was hand painted onto itself - with little regard to his surroundings. As he pushed the door open, a little bell ringing notifying people of his arrival, the humid smell of dozens of flowers made him pause for a moment.

He looked around, blinking slowly at the homey little place. Shelves and display cases lined the walls with bright, colorful things that weren't only flowers, but many leafy plants and other vegetation.

The product wasn't the reason Antonio was there, and the young brunet, now leaning on the counter with a smirk seemed to know that.

"Welcome to _Plenty of Plants_ ," he said with a heavy, noticeably Mediterranean accent like he had been practicing the line for years, "how may I help you?"

Antonio spluttered softly, his blush deepening. That voice matched his eyes, enchanting and just _different_. It was deeper than he had expected, and held an amused lilt to it that Antonio couldn't quite shake off.

"I-" Antonio tried. "I'm sorry, I just-...um, sorry?"

How eloquent. Yes, this young man would certainly want to get to know him now.

The brunet's shoulders shook as he muffled laughter from his hand. "Aren't you the smooth talker. I think I'm in love." He snorted and stood up completely. "What do you want, then? Or was staring at me all you came to do?"

Antonio fought an embarrassed whine, eyes moving to his feet. "I'm sorry," he said clearly this time, "I just...thought I recognized you."

"And did you?"

"Recognize you? Not exactly. I've never met you, but I've seen you before a lot." He didn't care how he sounded anymore. If it made him look out of it, so be it. This was the one he was looking for, and no could stop him anymore., and no one could stop him now.

As Antonio let the young man think over those words, he observed him closely. Now was a better time than none.

The man was undeniably attractive, in Antonio's own opinion. His hair, which was the first thing Antonio noticed aside from his smile, looked extraordinarily soft in the flickering lights of the flower shop. It was long enough to move around as the man did as well, his bangs sort of flopping out to his right side, while a flyaway curl graced the other.

Antonio's gaze traveled, down past the man's intense and astonishing and stunning eyes and his skin that was too nice to have been forcibly tanned to his uniform, which, now that he had apparently taken off his winter clothes, was visible.

It was surprisingly casual for a business, consisting of a grey hooded sweatshirt with the store's name on the front of it and the word 'florist' underneath, and a some black skinny jeans that Antonio thought really shouldn't have been legal. A pair of ankle boots were on his feet, giving him an extra inch or so. They still didn't make him Antonio's height, which he found a little funny.

The brunet sighed, bringing Antonio's attention back up to his face.

"...I'm not sure I know what you mean." He said, a confused note in his voice that made Antonio want to get rid of it faster than he could blink.

Antonio nodded. That was to be expected. "Yeah, I don't exactly get it either. But you see-" he was cut off by the little bell rested above the door rang, indicating the arrival of another customer. He quickly moved to be out of their way, towards the middle of the hop, letting a young woman go past him.

She had shoulder length blonde hair and pretty green eyes, a smile on her pale, freckled face. When she saw the young man, her eyes lit up, her grin grew, and she gave him a small wave with the hand that wasn't holding onto a small red purse.

The man leaning on the counter nodded to show he heard, and turned his attention back to Antonio with a tiny frown. He seemed to be thinking, judging by his expression, and stayed silent.

While the young lady- she only looked to be in her twenties -was meandering about the shop, casting the occasional glance towards the store worker, Antonio was trying not the do the same. He kept his gaze on the flowers, finding them not too-difficult to admire.

He had to congratulate whoever started the store, as it was most likely the best flower shop he had ever been in- and he had been been to quite a few in his lifetime. The flowers were all very pretty and healthy looking, same went for the other foliage.

Gradually, as he perused all the plants, he felt the young man's gaze on him intensify. It didn't make him nervous, like he had assumed. It was just...there, and he didn't quite know how to feel about that.

He took one very quick glance at the brunet, and didn't regret it.

The shorter worker had a curious expression on his handsome face, eyes narrowed slightly and arms crossed tightly again. He looked like he obviously had something to say, but with the size of the shop, anything said on one side could be easily heard from the other. He looked conflicted.

Antonio bit back a smile, refusing to break eye contact as he stopped moving about the shop. He, too, crossed his arms, offering a raised eyebrow. _Just try, I dare you._

About a minute later, by Antonio's estimate, the young man scoffed like he had just figured out the answer to a question he had over thought that was far too easy. He rolled his eyes and, taking a look to see how the lady was doing- checking out the poppies interestedly -before swiftly moving to exit the room through a backdoor Antonio hadn't noticed in the beginning, as it was painted the same cremé as the other walls.

Antonio blinked in surprise, and let his arms fall to his side once more. That was...unexpected of him, to just escape. Not quite what Antonio had thought he would do.

He felt crushed that the man he had been searching all those months for had just left like that. A heavy feeling settled on his heart, and any trace of a smile left his face.

Might as well go home now, he supposed. But what home was there to go to? He had left everyone and everything behind so long ago, there was no way his friends and family could accept him back. Not only would it be financially hard, he would not lower himself to begging at all. He would have to find a way to live now, permanently, somewhere.

As he pivoted to face the front door and leave, the brunet worker's voice sounded out.

"Leaving so soon?" It teased, and Antonio turned back around with a hope he couldn't let himself have. "Why, how rude. I was just getting started."

The man was standing next to the counter, a teasingly disappointed look on his face. He hadn't changed at all, aside from the lanyard now hanging around his neck with a multitude of keys on it.

Antonio was confused for a minute, before realizing the man had just gone into what was probably a storage room to get his keys so they could leave. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, before the young man entered the shop from the back room. Again.

Antonio's confusion returned full force, and it was apparently evident on his face, because the now-two young men started laughing. One was just a snort and an amused eye roll, while the other was already out of breath.

"What," the original one started, "never seen a pair of twins before?"

Now that...made sense, once Antonio took a good look at the apparent twins. The first one, with eyes of Antonio's dreams, had darker skin than the second. His hair was also darker, and the little stray curl was absent on the other's.

The second one, who Antonio couldn't tell if he was the oldest or not, had light brown eyes that more resembled caramel than the first's hazel. He had on a short sleeved black shirt with a bright red apron presenting the shop's name again over it, covering most of his body. With blue jeans that were more than likely used for working than for going out yet could still be called formal and a pair of black tennis shoes, he looked far more to be in the back storage room, cleaning, as opposed to his brother, who had a more sophisticated look to him despite the casual clothes he wore.

Antonio slowly nodded as he made more comparisons between the two. It was now obvious the two were not, in fact, the same person, but near-identical twins. How interesting. Antonio himself had only met a few pairs of twins before, his hometown far smaller than most.

He noticed the twins were both staring at him now. He almost blushed in embarrassment again.

"Right…" He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I- I have. Sorry."

The second one, with the lighter everything, grinned at him. "No problem!" He said, his voice a lot higher than his brother's, though the accent was just as strong. "We get it a lot, so don't worry about it."

Antonio blinked, and nodded again. "Right." He repeated, cursing himself for being so awkward.

The first twin shook his head. "Whatever." He muttered, a half smirk on his face. "Let's go. See you in an hour, Felici."

Felici, which was apparently either the second twin's name or a shortening of it, turned to his brother and hugged him tightly. "Don't get lost out there, you hear me? Or too cold, or hurt, or in trouble, or-"

His brother gently cut him off with a full, small, kind smile that Antonio knew wasn't for him to see and a swift return of the hug. "No promises." He winked playfully, and gave his brother a kiss on both cheeks before letting him go and turning back to Antonio. He took a step towards Antonio, an expectant look in his eyes Antonio didn't understand.

Antonio sidestepped him as he kept walking to the door, and opened it. He looked back at Antonio with a jerk of his head to the outside world, and Antonio understood.

He followed the first twin out the door and into the March weather, shivering as the cool air passed his coat and seemed to go straight into his bones. That was something he hadn't noticed earlier.

"Not used to the cold, hm?" The other man's voice drifted over to him and Antonio's head moved to get a better look at the brunet standing next to him. He had his hands in his sweatshirt pocket. Good idea. Antonio thought he might have to invest in one of those, once he has the money.

The man's question came back to him. "The cold. No, not particularly." He grinned apologetically. "I'm not really from around here."

Scoffing, the young man started walk, causing Antonio to follow after him. "Neither am I, but here we are. You get used to it, or deal with it."

"Good advice." Antonio commented lightly.

"Thanks?" The man made his reply sound more like a question than anything else. "So what do you want from me? I didn't leave my brother all alone in there for no reason, so you better give me one.

Antonio hummed. "Well, I'd like your name first, if you don't mind."

"And if I do mind?"

"Then I'll have to think of something." Antonio shrugged.

The man was quiet for a minute longer, and Antonio almost thought he had just gone silent to avoid the answer.

"...Romano." He said so quietly, that Antonio had to strain to hear him. "It's Romano. It's also on the back of my sweatshirt, if you were paying attention."

Sure enough, Antonio saw as he fell behind half a step to check, the name Romano printed clearly on the back, with 'boss' right under it.

"Romano," Antonio tried the name out, quite liking the way it sounded, "means 'man of Rome', doesn't it?"

For a second, Romano looked surprised and maybe a little shocked. Then he cleared his face again and nodded.

Antonio continued on, taking Romano's silence as a cue. "I've never heard anyone with that name- at least, not in the present day. I think there was like a vampire with the same name, about a thousand years ago, but maybe it was a different name…"

He cut himself off because of the look Romano sent his way, which made him feel like he could really, really shut up now to make him happy.

The two were quiet for a few minutes, after that, the only noises being the sound of their footsteps upon the sidewalk.

Antonio wasn't sure how to go about explaining his situation, so he just didn't. He figured if Romano wanted to know, he would ask, and Antonio would answer.

Romano sighed. "What do you want?" He asked again, more exasperated this time.

"Okay, well...this is going to sound strange…"

"You think I care? I once woke up in the middle of a lake, still in my bed, because my brothers thought it would get rid of my fever."

Antonio paused. "I-...oh, wow." He blinked. "Um. Did it...well, did it work?"

"Surprisingly, yes." Romano snorted, a small smile on his face.

"Oh."

Romano nodded. "Yeah. So what is it? You're wasting my time."

Just go for it, Antonio's mind whispered. He's yours, just explain.

"I saw your eyes in my dreams. I quit my job, I left my country, my friends, my family, just because I saw a smile and a pair of eyes I couldn't live without."

Romano was the one shocked now. He stopped walking entirely, staring down at the ground. "I don't...I don't believe that." _I'm not special enough._

Antonio sighed again, shaking his head and stopping as well. "It is, Romano. You have those eyes, I think you have that smile. It's the scariest thing that's ever happened to me, and I just don't know what to do."

"What do you want to do?" Romano asked quietly, stuffing his hands further into his pocket.

Antonio didn't know why Romano was egging him on. He had said his part, his crazy part, and now was the time Romano would scoff at his unbelievable story.

Apparently, Romano was fed up with his silence. "Well? What do you want to do? Did you come all this way just to tell me that? You didn't." It wasn't a question.

"N-no, I...I didn't think of what to do." Antonio's voice got quieter. "I didn't think I would get this far, really."

Romano sighed. "We're sitting down."

And so they sat. Down on a stone cold bench in the courtyard they went, enough space in between them for someone to think they hadn't come together.

"Let me get this straight: you left everything." Romano started.

"Yes."

"For...for me?"

"For those eyes and that smile. But...but I think it was for you."

Romano sighed. "Why?"

"I couldn't function. All I did was sleep, and when I couldn't sleep any longer, I was beyond restless. I couldn't handle it anymore."

"That's not a reason."

"My reason was you, Romano. My reason for living."

 _No one has ever said that before._

"Are you going to stay here?" Romano wondered, letting his eyes wander up to the cloudy sky. "If you've found your...reason for living, as you say, does that mean you're staying?"

A rush of emotions flowed over Antonio, an answer came bubbling up not of his own accord.

"Wherever you are, I'll be less than a step behind. Always." He was addicted, and the withdrawals could mean death.

Romano actually blushed. He didn't have an argument for that, was there really a need to?

* * *

Barely a week later, Romano and Antonio were dating. Antonio had stuttered out the question in the flower shop, and Romano had laughed. He agreed.

It seemed Romano, for some miraculous reason, didn't care about much about the dreams. A sign, he said. A sign they were meant to be together.

Antonio found out Romano was quite the romantic, despite his cold exterior. It was endearing to him, to say the very least.

Antonio also found out the name of Romano's twin was Feliciano, and he also had one more brother, Vita, and an older sister, Hallie. The four of them lived with their father, as their mother had left them a few years after Vita was born.

Romano was the older twin, by seven minutes. Feliciano insisted it was six.

* * *

And so, Antonio stayed. He stayed in that dreary little town in Maine, with the dreams of his life, and the man that came with it.

As it turned out, Romano did have that smile. He showed it every day. Antonio couldn't have been happier.

Fin.

* * *

Well well well, what do we have here? A finished story? No, it couldn't possibly be! Surely I would never publish anything again! Ha, or so you thought.

Yep, I'm still alive. The next chapter of Safe Haven, for all those who still care, is in progress. I've been busy with one shots, sorry!

Anyways! This is a (very, very belated) birthday present for my amazing friend, Italian Skunk. A shocker, hm? What a surprise. I really hope you like it, even though it's rushed and changes styles like three times and late late late late! The other part (I promise) will come shortly. ^^'

To everyone else, please oh please be sure to check out her newest story, **Starry Night.** (It's a gift! For me! Do you even realize how exciting that is?! I've never gotten a written gift before!) You won't regret it, I absolutely promise.

See you!


End file.
